by Peter Jackson
Back before Peter Jackson was a hugely successful director, New Line invited him to take a crack at the Freddy franchise. (Jackson was actually sleeping on Mark Ordesky’s couch for a time.)

I’ve found references to the script, and it can be seen in a behind-the-scenes doc on the Infinifilm DVD release of A Nightmare on Elm Street, but it probably hasn’t been distributed online. If anyone knows where it can be found, please let me know!

Jackson’s first Hollywood paycheck involves the complex family tree of Freddy Krueger… Jackson’s first films Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles caught the attention of a number of New Line staff, including scriptreader Mark Ordesky. Though Ordesky failed to persuade his bosses to distribute either film, Jackson and Feebles scriptwriter Danny Mulheron were instead offered the chance to write a script for Elm Street…

Jackson and Mulheron’s script begins with Freddy initially having lost much of his power to terrify. Teenagers in Springfield take sleeping pills so that they can go into the dream world and take turns attacking him. the film’s hero is a policeman in a coma, who finds himself in the dream world, where he discovers Krueger. “The climax of it was the deconstruction of Freddy Krueger,” says Mulheron. “By confronting him with his impotence, he lost his ability to scare.” Jackson and Mulheron’s script was paid for but never used, partly because Elm Street production veteran Rachel Talalay had drafted a treatment for her own film Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. New Line commissioned a script based upon this treatment, which failed to satisfy, after which Talalay asked New Line executive Michael De Luca to write the script himself. Freddy’s Dead was filmed in early 1991. New Line staff, enthused by the Jackson Mulheron script, later asked Jackson if he might want to work on their long-in-development Freddy Versus Jason, but Jackson turned them down.

New Line commissioned tons of scripts for this project. They spun their wheels for several years, and then produced a movie that was good, clean, mediocre fun. Sure, I liked it, but I think that had more to do with director Ronny Yu than the quality of the writing. Briggs’ script is notable for its reference to the Phantasm movies. (Look for the SILVER “PHANTASM” BALL near the end.)

Treatment by Unknown
Bruce Campbell himself thought this movie probably wouldn’t work. How do you do each franchise justice? Personally, I think the Friday the 13th and Elm Street series interlock nicely, but tying in the Evil Dead continuity seems wrong. After this projected sequel to Freddy Vs. Jason was dropped, Bloody-Disgusting posted the treatment, but it has since been removed.